Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn OBE
Albarn performing with Gorillaz at the Roskilde Festival in 2010
Background information
Born	(1968-03-23) 23 March 1968 (age 48) Whitechapel, London, England
Origin	Aldham, Essex
Genres	Alternative rock britpop world electronic hip hop
Occupation(s)	Musician singer-songwriter composer record producer multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Vocals piano keyboards guitar bass synthesizer melodica drums percussion ukulele
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Food SBK Virgin Parlophone EMI Warner Music XL Honest Jon's Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Blur Gorillaz Monkey: Journey to the West The Good, the Bad & the Queen Mali Music Rocket Juice & the Moon DRC Music Massive Attack
Website	damonalbarnmusic.com

Damon Albarn, OBE (/ˈdeɪmən ˈælbɑːrn/; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is the lead singer of the alternative rock band Blur as well as co-founder, vocalist, instrumentalist and principal songwriter of the virtual band Gorillaz.

Raised in Leytonstone, East London and around Colchester, Essex, Albarn attended the Stanway School, where he met Graham Coxon and eventually formed Blur, whose debut album Leisure was released in 1991 to mixed reviews. After spending long periods of time touring the US, Albarn's songwriting became increasingly influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result of these influences came in the form of Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). All three albums received critical acclaim while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop rivalry with Oasis. Subsequent albums such as Blur (1997), 13 (1999), Think Tank (2003) and The Magic Whip (2015) contained influences from lo-fi, electronic and hip hop music.